 "WiMAX Technology To Positively Impact Indian Economy")
The WiMAX Forum recently highlighted activity in the burgeoning Indian market to illustrate the power of WiMAX technology and its meaningful effect on emerging markets. The Forum projects the Indian WiMAX market, including devices, will be worth $13 billion in 2012. This market projection takes into account 27.5 million WiMAX users, or 19 million WiMAX subscribers in 2012.
Robust QoS and low latency make WiMAX well suited for real-time applications like VoIP, content streaming, online gaming, and vertical applications such as those for safety and surveillance. Broadcast applications can also be supported through the Multicast Broadcast Service. As the Indian telecom sector operates in a volume-driven market, India is not only positioned to spur one of the world’s largest broadband wireless markets, but also to support an ancillary ecosystem that will generate further employment, enhance development in semi-urban and rural areas and lead towards sustainability.
“In India, WiMAX represents a win-win proposition, benefiting both network operators and subscribers at the same time,” explains C S Rao, chairman, WiMAX Forum India chapter. “Broadband penetration being low, the opportunity for operators to gain large numbers of subscribers through WiMAX is incredible. Any service provider with innovative service offerings, attractive devices and go-to-market plans that maximise the utility offered by WiMAX technology to price-sensitive Indian customers can use this technology to quickly gain market share.”
Citing the recent decision by India’s Department of Telecommunications to allocate and auction WiMAX spectrum to the 2.3 and 2.5 GHz frequency bands, Ron Resnick, President and Chairman of the WiMAX Forum, referenced India as a leading example of WiMAX technology’s potential on the world stage at a recent global industry event.
“India currently has only 4.5 million broadband users out of a population of 1.2 billion people. And with these recent regulatory decisions, India joins other developed nations such as the US, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Russia in freeing up prime spectrum for mobile WiMAX deployments,” said Resnick. “With the expected demand for WiMAX-enabled devices brought on by India’s planned WiMAX deployments, WiMAX Forum will add an Indian certification lab to its existing network in 2009 to stay ahead of the demand for products in this region. This will be very important to the device-hungry Indian market, which can look forward to connected laptops, USB dongles, ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs), mobile handsets, and mobile Internet devices (MIDs).”
WiMAX Forum predicts that major rollouts of WiMAX technology in India will have a tremendous positive effect on the nation’s economy. The Forum also predicts that widespread access to broadband will also lay the groundwork for important initiatives, such as distance learning, telemedicine and e-governance.